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Q9550 or E8400 for fallout 3, and far cry 2

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - Q9550 or E8400 for fallout 3, and far cry 2

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jonj320   10-20-2008 at 07:36:54 AM

Hi everyone. im going to make a mid priced gaming computer around christmas time this year. i'm waiting for the 32nm shrink of the i7, so in the mean time im going to make a pc with either a Q9550 or a E8400. im going to use this pc for gaming (falout 3, far cry 2, stalker CS, spore, crysis warhead) so im wondering it the extra cores will make a difference. i know that crysis took advatage of 4 cores but i havent heard anything on fallout or far cry2.

so far this is what i already have from a old pc---- 750w corsair psu, a 320 seagate HDD, a thermaltake armour case, and a zalman 9700 cpu fan.

i need a mobo, ram and videocard to go with this but i want to pick the cpu first.


any thoughts or suggestions are apreciated. thanks

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aznguy0028   10-20-2008 at 08:00:00 AM
- 0 +

it'll be awhile for the 32nm i7 but if you're gonna go for a pit-stop PC and choosing between the E8400 and Q9550

i would go with the E8400 and save some money for the future i7 build. OC the E8400 and you should be good with those games

however, if you were building a main computer i would suggest the Q9550 (E0) as it comes very close to the E8400 in terms of OC-ing.

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jonj320   10-20-2008 at 08:09:35 AM
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im using this pc just for gaming, but i dont overclock-im not that good at it. im just looking for a cpu that can run games at high quality. thats it. thanks

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aznguy0028   10-20-2008 at 08:15:57 AM
- 0 +

oh i see, okay then

the answer is still the same. get the E8400 as it has a higher native frequency :) you should be good to go

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swifty_morgan   10-20-2008 at 08:37:23 AM
- 1 +

FarCry2 takes advantage of quad core processors and at this point in time there's no reason not to select one over a dual. I think a couple of those other games do too. I also wouldn't get anything less than a gtx260 but Farcry2 is dx10.1 compatible.... something to think about but might not mean a heck of a lot.

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gamerk316   10-20-2008 at 02:16:06 PM
- 1 +

With the LGA775 socket nearing EOL, i wouldn't bother telling people "buy a duo and upgrade later". You have two options:

Buy a Duo for now, and buy i7 in a year or two.
or
Buy a decent Quad (Q9550 or above), and stick with that for 3-4 years.

Seriously, a decently clocked Quad will be fine for at least 5 years, where a 4GHz Duo will show its age far, far sooner. Games like FSX and FarCry 2 benifit from more cores, and ive noticed several others (Crysis Warhead) which seem to adjust to more CPU cores.


Remember, a 3.6 Quad > 3.6 Duo. The problem is getting most Quads to 3.6...The question will soon be, will a 3.2 Quad be > than a 3.6 Duo? I think, in a year a two, the answer will be yes. Thats why if the system is meant to last more than a year, I can not advocate buying a duo processor over a Quad.

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jonj320   10-20-2008 at 04:54:22 PM
- 0 +

you all make some really good points here. since i do plan on upgrading to a 32nm i7 in a year or two (after prices get reasonable) i think i'll go with the dual core. if i do that ill probally have about $350 left over to get my videocard. so thats either a 4870 1GB or a 260 core 216.

Thanks everyone for your help

Reply to jonj320
thogrom   10-20-2008 at 05:25:33 PM
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yeah

i went with the quad route... that way i can avoid this core i7 thing...

I'm going to try... although it may not happen... i'm going to try to stick with my cpu for 3 - 4 years

I think any highly clocked quad... 3.2 or above will last you... I have a 3.85 ghz so I think i'll be good... PLUS i'm at a high resolution so i won't see cpu bottlenecking for a while... atleast major cpu bottlenecking

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maximiza   10-20-2008 at 05:44:42 PM
- 0 +

I think Fallout 3 uses the Oblivion engine and is only DX9.0 so it is not that demanding but still we be good. Far Cry 2 will be the next crysis, choking even top end rigs to their knees and spiting them out. My recomandation is get a quad. I don't know if youll need a i7 since these games were developed on current tech.

Reply to maximiza
jonj320   10-20-2008 at 10:29:25 PM
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from what i've seen so far the i7 cpus are actually doing worse than most yorkfields. maybe its the drivers or whatever.

but does anyone know if there is any confirmation of a price drop for the current cpus after i7 launch?

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